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A federal jury in Dallas convicted two brothers Monday of running a large synthetic marijuana operation that did business in smoke shops and convenience stores across the nation, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

The brothers were convicted of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, and conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance analogue following a nearly two-week trial.

Bays also was convicted of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and using a communication facility to facilitate a drug felony. Bays and Coleman remain in federal custody. A sentencing date has not been set yet.

Two of the conspirators are from Denton: Samuel Madeley, 22, and Holden Bownds, 23. Four are from Fort Wayne: Aaron Parrish, 31, Jennie Miller, 41, Kyle Boyer, 31, and Brandon Zerler, 26. And David Muise, 23, is from Londonderry, NH.

Miller was sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison for acting as a “straw purchaser” of the firearm Bays used.

The other defendants are scheduled to be sentenced in coming months.

Bays sold the drugs through a company he set up in Indiana and Ohio. He bought the chemicals from Madeley and Bownds and mixed them with leafy plant material to create spice, court records show.

Sweeney, who lived in the U.S. and Mexico, was arrested earlier this month and is awaiting a detention hearing.

The DEA learned about Hostile Pipes after raiding an Arizona company called Greenlight Distributing in July. Agents said Greenlight’s only business was making and selling chemicals that are applied to plant material to make synthetic marijuana.

The business’s financial records indicated that Sweeney was one of Greenlight’s biggest customers, the DEA complaint said.

This package of K2 is essentially dried herbs sprayed with chemicals. The government has outlawed five chemicals used to make synthetic marijuana that is sold in smoke shops and online to a growing number of teens and young adults.

Naseem Khan was charged with possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

In the other case, James Stuart, Derek Stuart and Evelyn Worthington were charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance analogue.

Dallas smoke shops were implicated in both.

The cases are part of a federal crackdown on the distribution in North Texas of synthetic cannabis, a dangerous chemical concoction often known as “spice” that is becoming popular. They’re often marketed as “herbal incense” or “potpourri” online and in retail stores.

Its harmful effects have sent some users to hospital emergency rooms.

President Obama signed a new law last year that outlawed synthetic drugs.

But manufacturers are trying to stay ahead of law enforcement by using different chemical compounds, or synthetic cannabinoids, in their fake weed products.

Such chemicals have a similar effect on the brain as the substance found in natural marijuana.

In May, the Drug Enforcement Administration made three more chemicals illegal for two years while it seeks a permanent ban.

Last month, federal agents serving a search warrant in Sunnyvale found about 900 pounds of synthetic marijuana along with about 70 firearms, federal court records show.

The latest indictments came about after DEA agents had confidential sources buy “spice” from local stores.

In March, a DEA source bought the illegal drug from the Texas Smoke Outlet on Harry Hines Boulevard, records show.

Khan, the owner, sold various packets of synthetic marijuana on different days, some with names such as Bob Marley, Diablo and Mister Nice Guy Hydro, court records show.

That led agents to James Stuart and Worthington, who were making their own product in bulk and also buying synthetic cannabis from EZ Way Smoke Shop, records show.

Worthington ran a business called Sweet D’s in Paris, TX, that police said had sold synthetic pot before it closed last month.

Last month, federal agents raided the homes of James Stuart and Worthington as well as another man who hasn’t been charged. Afterwards, Worthington cooperated and told agents she and Stuart bought synthetic pot from EZ Way Smoke Shop, court records show.

Worthington said “manufacturers were attempting to stay one step ahead of law enforcement by continuing to change the chemical make-up of the product,” a federal complaint said.

Federal agents serving a search warrant Wednesday in Sunnyvale found about 900 pounds of synthetic marijuana along with about 70 firearms, federal court records show.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents and local police raided the home of Kevin Burns on Barnes Bridge Road as part of an undercover fake marijuana operation, records show.

They found a loaded, sawed-off shotgun sitting next to Burns’ desk as well as a 6-foot-tall safe containing guns, cash and precious metals, records show. About 15 feet away, a storage closet hid boxes of synthetic marijuana.

The rest of it was in the attic of the out building, according to court records.